Natural Rhythm
by Hikari Kaitou
Summary: Nothing soothes Finland after a bad day like listening to Sweden's heartbeat.


**A/N: **I bring more fluffy SuFin h/c. One of these days, I'll try to write something about these two with actual plot but I'm in the midst of finals now and don't really have the spare brain power for that at the moment. For now, have another kink meme deanon. This was actually my 50th fill for the kink meme.

The prompt was as follows: "I want one nation trying to recover from some emotional distress and being soothed by his lover's heartbeat. Make it fluffy 3 I could go for a number of pairings here: UKUS, FinSu, RomanoxSpain, ItaGer, CanadaxCuba, GreecexTurkey, PrussiaxMale!Hungary. You can flip-flop the order of these pairings and I'd still be happy, but I'd kind of like to see a different dynamic with these couples."

I'd already done quite a few FinSu h/c pieces lately so I decided to go with SuFin for this instead. Enjoy.

* * *

><p>"Hn," Sweden grunted as he switched off the hair drier and set it aside. "Fin'shed."<p>

Hana-Tamago, whom Sweden had just finished bathing and drying, leapt eagerly out of her master's lap and immediately began to mow her head along the carpet before flipping over on her back and squirming back and forth, mussing the fur that Sweden had just carefully brushed. Sweden watched the puppy's antics in silence for a moment, a hint of a smile curling his lips, before reaching out to rub her belly.

That was when he heard the garage door slam, announcing that Finland was home from work at last. Things had been fairly calm at Sweden's place lately so he had been able to finish what little work he'd had early that afternoon in his home office. Finland had not been so lucky, forced to spend all day in meetings with his officials. He was generally a good sport about that kind of thing, but always came home from his meeting days ready to relax.

Sweden gave Hana-Tamago a final pat on the head before going to greet his beloved wife. Hearing movement in the kitchen, he poked his head inside, preparing to affectionately scold Finland for trying to ruin his appetite for dinner with a pre-meal snack. The words died in his throat however when he saw that Finland was actually helping himself to some pain-relievers. Something obviously wasn't right.

Finland let out a weary, shaky sigh after swallowing his water chaser and turned his gaze to Sweden at last. Sweden's heart sank at the sight of the tiny, forced half-smile Finland aimed at him; his lover was clearly upset about something. Finland set his water glass down near the sink and crossed the room to Sweden's side without a word. Sweden opened his arms to him instantly, curling them around Finland's back when the smaller man hid his face in Sweden's broad chest.

Gentle fingers traced down Finland's spine and kneaded briefly at his shoulders, checking the tension in those muscles as Sweden sought to gage the level of Finland's stress. They were rather tight; Finland must have had a pretty bad day. Luckily Sweden had seen Finland through quite a few bad days throughout the many, many years that they had spent together and knew precisely how to help lift Finland's spirits.

Sweden silently scooped the little Finn into his arms and carried him to the living room where he stretched out on the couch with Finland curled up on top of him. Finland sighed again, letting his ear rest against Sweden's chest. His eyes fluttered closed as he took a deep breath of his husband's familiar, comforting scent and allowed the regular rhythm of Sweden's heartbeat to fill his head.

There were many sounds associated with Sweden that Finland found soothing. There was the slow, soft inhale and exhale that made up Sweden's breathing when he slept at Finland's side. There was the quiet, contented hum he sometimes made when Finland kissed him in all the right places. There was the lustful, passionate moan that Finland was able to coax from him when they made love. There was the needy grumbling that his stomach made when it was waiting for Finland to fill it up with his lovingly homemade food. All of these noises, though he cherished them all, paled in comparison to Sweden's heartbeat.

It had something to do with the fact that he had to be pressed right up against Sweden in order to hear it, and being so close to his kindly teddy bear of a husband also meant warmth and kisses and strong, protective hugs. But it went beyond even that. Finland loved Sweden's heartbeat because it was synonymous with Sweden's life force, which was naturally extremely precious to him. Being able to hear it meant that he was the first one to know with each dawning second that his beloved Sweden was alive and well.

On top of that, Finland could affect it with a well-placed kiss or touch, or a whispered reaffirmation of love. He could make Sweden's heart beat a little faster, a little stronger, as if he was enhancing Sweden's life somehow. Sweden frequently let him know in his own taciturn way that Finland really did bring something irreplaceably wonderful to his life, but as far as Finland was concerned, there was no such thing as having too much proof of this particular fact.

Sweden's lips touched his scalp in a series of tender kisses and Finland felt himself beginning to relax. There was one more reason that Finland loved the sound of Sweden's heartbeat. It was because when he heard it, he knew that there was someone real and sincere and close who loved him deeply: someone who would accept him even when he was feeling insecure and unattractive.

He called the structure that the two of them currently inhabited together "home" but that was only because Sweden was there to share it with him. In reality, the place where he belonged was wherever this heartbeat was. Even when returning to the house after a hard day at work, he didn't really feel that he had reached his final resting place until there were muscular arms wrapped around him, soft Swedish lips pressed against his skin and a strong, steady life-force was pulsing in his ear.

Tension was ebbing out of Finland's muscles as he allowed himself to revel in the fact that right now, at this moment, all those conditions were being met. As Sweden's chest rose and fell serenely beneath him and Finland's cheeks were tickled with another series of kisses, Finland spoke up, in a whisper, for the first time since he had entered the house.

"I'm home."


End file.
